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Twitter User Under Investigation for Bachmann "Threat"

BY
Raphael Majma
| Wednesday, February 29 2012

A Twitter user who threatened Rep. Michele Bachmann during her presidential campaign is currently the target of an ongoing grand jury investigation. Last week, the investigation came to light when a federal judge dismissed the user’s motion to quash a subpoena for Twitter to release his identity. The government filed the subpoena with Twitter as a part of the investigation to determine whether the Tweet was a “true threat.”

The user stated in a graphic tweet something to the effect that he would like to sodomize Rep. Bachmann with a machete. Regarding the user’s Twitter feed, federal Judge Royce Lamberth stated:

“Occasionally political but consistently vacuous, his oeuvre represents an infantile attempt at humor that brings to mind the most obscene aspects of Andrew Dice Clay, but without even the infinitesimal modicum of artistic creativity that Mr. Clay managed to possess. The page is entirely without merit, comedic or otherwise.”

Judge Lamberth dismissed the motion to quash, determining that the government had successfully argued “a compelling interest in sough-after material” and found “a sufficient nexus between the subject matter of the investigation and the information they seek.” The investigation into the nature of the threat will proceed. Currently, no charges have been filed against the user.